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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 dark fantasy film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. The film, which is the third instalment in the Harry Potter film series, was written by Steve Kloves and produced by Chris Columbus, David Heyman, and Mark Radcliffe. The story follows Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts as he is informed that a prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban and wants to murder him. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and is followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The film was released on 31 May 2004 in the United Kingdom and on 4 June 2004 in North America, as the first Harry Potter film released into IMAX theatres and to be using IMAX Technology. It is also the last Harry Potter film to be released on VHS as well as the last film until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be rated PG in North America. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards—Original Music Score and Visual Effects—at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005. While Prisoner of Azkaban grossed a total of $796.6 million worldwide, its box office performance ranks as the lowest-grossing in the series. Nonetheless, it currently stands as the forty-first highest-grossing film of all-time. Plot Harry Potter, now aged 13, has been spending another dissatisfying summer at Privet Drive. When Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, insults Harry's parents, he becomes angry and accidentally causes her to inflate and float away. Harry flees with his luggage, fed up with his life with the Dursleys. The Knight Bus delivers Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, where he is forgiven by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge for using magic outside of Hogwarts. After reuniting with his best friends Ron and Hermione, Harry learns that Sirius Black, a convicted supporter of the dark wizard Voldemort, who murdered Harry's parents, has escaped Azkaban prison, intending to kill Harry. The trio are returning to Hogwarts for the school year on the Hogwarts Express when dementors suddenly board the train, searching for Sirius. One enters the trio's compartment, causing Harry to pass out. New Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Lupin repels the dementor with a Patronus Charm. At Hogwarts, headmaster Albus Dumbledore announces that dementors will be guarding the school while Sirius is at large. Hogwarts groundskeeper Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher; his first class goes awry when Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes a hippogriff, Buckbeak, who attacks him. Draco's father Lucius Malfoy has Buckbeak sentenced to death. The Fat Lady's portrait, which guards the Gryffindor quarters, is found ruined and empty. Terrified and hiding in another painting, the Fat Lady tells Dumbledore that Sirius Black has entered the castle. During a stormy Quidditch match, dementors attack Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick, which is then destroyed by the Whomping Willow. Lupin privately teaches Harry to defend himself against dementors, using the Patronus Charm. At Hogsmeade, Harry is shocked to learn that not only had Sirius Black been his parents' best friend and betrayed them to Voldemort, but that Sirius is also his godfather. After Harry, Ron and Hermione witness Buckbeak's execution, Ron's pet rat Scabbers escapes from his pocket. When Ron gives chase, a large dog appears and drags both Ron and Scabbers into a hole at the Whomping Willow's base, which is actually an underground passage to the Shrieking Shack. The trio discovers that the dog is actually Sirius, who is an Animagus. Lupin arrives and embraces Sirius as an old friend. He admits to being a werewolf, and explains that Sirius is innocent. Sirius was falsely accused of betraying the Potters' hiding location to Voldemort, and murdering their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew. It is revealed that Scabbers is actually Pettigrew, an Animagus who committed the crime for which Sirius was convicted. After forcing him back into a human, Lupin and Sirius prepare to kill him, but Harry convinces them to turn Pettigrew over to the dementors. As the group departs, the full moon rises; Lupin transforms into a werewolf, and Sirius transforms into his dog form to fight him off. In the chaos, Pettigrew escapes in his rat form. Sirius and Harry are attacked by dementors and Harry sees a figure in the distance save them by casting a powerful Patronus spell. He believes the mysterious figure is his dead father, and passes out. He awakens to discover that Sirius has been captured and sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss. Acting on Dumbledore's advice, Harry and Hermione travel back in time with Hermione's Time Turner, and watch themselves repeat the night's events. They save Buckbeak from execution and witness the Dementors overpower Sirius and Harry. The present Harry realises that the one who cast the Patronus spell was not his father, but he himself, and does so. Harry and Hermione then rescue Sirius, who escapes on Buckbeak. Lupin resigns to preempt an uproar from parents over a werewolf teaching their children. Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt broom, the fastest broom in the world, and Harry happily takes it for a ride. Cast *Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter *Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley *Emma Watson as Hermione Granger *Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid *Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore *Gary Oldman as Sirius Black *Alan Rickman as Severus Snape *Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley *Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall *Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew *David Thewlis as Remus Lupin *Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney *Julie Walters as Molly Weasley External links * Category:Films Category:2004 release Category:Harry Potter series Category:Daniel Radcliffe films Category:Emma Watson films Category:Emma Thompson films Category:Maggie Smith films Category:Alan Rickman films